Back-to-School Bonanza: Got Stink? Try Bamboo Charcoal {REVIEW}

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The strangest looking thing is sitting in the soap tray in our bathtub right now.

It’s black.

It’s slippery.

It’s heavy.

But it makes white suds.

Ever Bamboo makes products from bamboo charcoal, which is easily renewable, super porous, and even anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial, according to the company. Most of their products are for odor control and removal, using the bamboo charcoal’s porous quality to freshen up diaper pails, refrigerators, shoes, and stinky hockey gear.

I know you’re thinking I mean a really dark gray, like a color that might be called “charcoal” on a paint chip at Lowe’s. I mean black, like a car tire, only darker and glossier. See?

That’s the box on the top, the bar on the bottom. And yes, they are exactly the same shade of black.

It trips me out that the residue of the soap is black (I thought it might stain light colors, but so far, so good), yet the suds are white. I keep using too much just because I’m watching it change!

I’m trying the soap on my face, and although it takes a little work to get off eye makeup, it’s definitely doable. I generally use coconut oil for eye makeup remover, anyway. (What else can you do with coconut oil?) I don’t know that I’ve been at it long enough to report conclusively, but so far, it’s doing okay. The massive size of the bar makes me think it will last forever, and for $19.95, that’s a great thing.

I looked up all the ingredients, one by one, at Wikipedia and the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, and everything rated ONE (ultra safe). They’re all made from palm oil, coconut oil, or are deemed otherwise harmless. I admit that when I saw ingredients I couldn’t pronounce, I was a little worried, but I feel like I can stand behind the eco-integrity of the product based on what I learned so far.

What does it smell like?

With lavender in the ingredients list, I was worried it would smell flowery and feminine, but on the contrary, I would place the scent squarely in the category of “slightly masculine.” It’s fresh and pleasant, and something that could really go nicely gender neutral.

Ever Bamboo Deodorizing Products: Review

I may not be the perfect person to review deodorizing products, not because we have no odor issues in our house, but because sometimes I’m not very observant. Case in point: we threw away the diaper pail deodorizer on accident after a week. Good thing they come in 2-packs!

Sigh. Case in point no. 2: The second packet broke open and is half strewn across the bottom of our pail. The instructions said to put it taped to the top of the lid or the bottom of the container if using a liner. Since we have no lid and I didn’t want it thrown away again, I taped it to the side. That’s what I get for not following directions!

Diaper Pail Deodorizer Testing (While I Could)

I specifically left a poopy diaper in our nursery garbage when I went away for Labor Day weekend, thinking that the room should smell overpowering when we got back. It didn’t. Sometimes I’d still catch whiffs of yucky smells during that week, but overall, I’d have to give Ever Bamboo’s diaper pail deodorizer a cautious thumbs up.

All their deodorizers are supposed to last about a year. To care for them, you have to put them in the sunshine 2-3 hours per side, once a month. I will have to put a reminder in my Google calendar for that. I only wonder what I will be able to accomplish with a wintertime sun here in Michigan. That may be a flaw in the system! UPDATE: See a great idea in the comments section.

After the packets are tapped out, the charcoal can be mixed in with garden soil. Ever Bamboo is very careful to stay low waste, even printing instructions for use on the bags instead of including a separate insert. Love that!

Hockey Equipment Deodorizers

The hockey deodorizers are the ones that really caught my eye. If anyone in your family (or perhaps even your block) plays hockey, you know what I mean. That equipment is rank! My husband’s entire car smells of stale male sweat because his hockey gear lives in his trunk. I may not be using the term “lives” as jokingly as you might think there.

Our conclusion on the effectiveness of the Ever Bamboo deodorizer?

The smell is definitely decreased after the first week, when the gear was stashed in the garage because I had to drive his car (which smelled like sweaty hockey gear, even in the absence of the gear). Once the hockey stuff was back in the trunk, I climbed in to test. In my unprofessional opinion, I think it’s better. The four deodorizer packets are in his skates and gloves, so there’s still some equipment untouched by the bamboo. And again, if you’ve ever smelled hockey gear, you know it’s a serious stink. When I opened the trunk, I could smell it, but the odor immediately wafted away on the breeze. Pretty sure that didn’t used to happen! I’m wondering if he could keep on packet loose in the bag to tackle the shoulder and shin pads, rather than in a skate. We’ll have to experiment more!

We also got a sample of the fridge and freezer deodorizer and the shoe deodorizer. Other than ease of use over baking soda, I don’t know that I can say much about them, because my fridge contents and smell change too much for me to realize the effectiveness of the former, and we didn’t have stinky shoes to test for the latter. Anyone interested?

Actually, if you’re interested, go enter the giveaway where two winners can have their choice of any three products from Ever Bamboo!

There’s also still 4 more days (through September 23rd) to enter the $250 lunch packing giveaway HERE.

About Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship

I’m a Catholic wife and mother of four who wants the best of nutrition and living for her family. I believe that God calls us to be good stewards of all His gifts as we work to feed our families: time, finances, the good green earth, and of course, our healthy bodies. I'm the founder and boss lady here at Kitchen Stewardship -- welcome aboard!

6 Bites of Conversation So Far

Here in Cleveland our sun is sort of similarly sad to your Michigan sun in the winter…One trick I’ve heard for drying diapers and things is to stick it on the dashboard of your car…warmer than outside anyway, especially if you have somewhere to go. I bet it would work for the deodorizer too.

Palm oil is controversial because irresponsible companies throughout Asia are cutting down entire swathes of native forests to turn them into palm plantations. Just Google “Palm Oil” and you’ll get a sense of what the problem is.

Palm oil production is often done unsustainably by burning a natural habitat of diverse plants and animals and making 1 monocrop—Palm oil trees as far as the eye can see.
The worst thing about this is that one of our closest relatives-Orangutans-are being killed because of it. Their home in a diverse forest is burnt down and they have nowhere to go.
Check out this article from TED and great informative video by Willie Smitshttp://blog.ted.com/2009/03/05/orangutans_and/

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Please remember that I’m just a gal who reads a lot and spends way too much time in her kitchen. I’m not a doctor, nurse, scientist, or even a real chef, and certainly the FDA hasn't evaluated anything on this blog. Any products mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please talk to your health professional (or at least your spouse) before doing anything you might think is questionable. Trust your own judgment…I can’t be liable for problems that occur from bad decisions you make based on content found here.

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